Courts have one primary consideration when making decisions involving children, and that is the best interests of the child. There is no law that says that you may absolutely not move your children away from the other parent; however, the other parent can generally petition the court to prevent your…
St. Petersburg Times reported on Sunday, August 21, 2011, that a Pinellas County woman was arrested on charges of sale of parental rights and violation of probation for grand theft. According to reports, sometime last week, Jessica Marie Beers, 28, offered to sell her son to James Gardner and his…
A Parenting Plan is a document that governs the way divorcing parties relate to one another about the decisions made regarding their children. A Parenting Plan includes a time-sharing schedule that dictates when the parties’ children will be spending time with each parent, including overnights, weekends, holidays and summer breaks.…
Shared Parental Responsibility is the legal presumption in Florida regarding Parental Responsibility. The Court feels that both parents should be actively involved in their children’s lives, education, religious upbringing, health and welfare. The Court will grant Shared Parental Responsibility unless one parent is truly unfit and then the Court will…
As a Jacksonville Child Custody Attorney, I often use a tool called a child custody evaluation in Florida. This tool is also called a “social investigation”. In highly contested custody cases in Florida, I use these social investigations for my client to show the benefits of my client to the…
As a Jacksonville Family Law Attorney, I am often asked whether a child custody order can be modified after a divorce in Florida. In short, yes, parents can change their Florida custody agreement. However, the standard under Florida Law if often difficult to satisfy. In general, Florida courts require a…
As a Florida child custody attorney, I often see families that are having to learn to live separately. Roughly one out of every four fathers lives separately from a child. According to the Pew Research Center, education is a large indicator of whether a father will stick around and be…
There are multiple reasons why it happens, but the fact is more and more grandparents are finding themselves having to take care of their grandkids. The problem is, however, grandparents often can’t get their grandchildren the services they need due to various legal complications. For example, grandparents don’t automatically have…
As a Jacksonville Family Law Attorney, I am often asked whether a child timesharing order can be modified after a divorce. In short, yes, parents can change their timesharing agreement. However, if the parents disagree about the modification, the standard under Florida Law is often difficult to satisfy. After a…
Timesharing disputes often conclude where one party is granted majority timesharing of a child, while the other is issued a court order to pay child support each month. The effect of the court order is a legal obligation for the minority timesharing parent to make monetary payments to the majority…